My wife and I had kept tropical fish before, but we wanted to do something different. So we decided to reconstruct the fireplace - a typical modern affair with no real quality or style - into a 7 foot long 4 foot deep paradise for fish and eventually into an African Cichlid sanctuary...
Having got some real clever mathematician to work out that the weight of the water and tank was indeed supportable in our house (! - you'll never believe how many people don't check that out, especially those in apartments), we set about planning the aquarium with delight...
The tank was to stand on ornamental stone blocks which a local builder fixed in place. We needed to talk to a specialist tank supplier as the tank we were building was just a little out of the ordinary - and finally several weeks later the tank arrived.
The first trip to the store
My excitement was extreme as we made our way to the local store to get the bits and pieces we would need to start off:
o the gravel
o the filter and aerator
o the lighting
o the heater
o the cleaner (gravel vac).
When I got home I scrubbed the tank, and checked to make sure there were no leaks, then started to lay the gravel (having first washed the gravel through to make sure the dust was removed). At this time there was no need to be particular as water disturbs the gravel when it is first added. I then added about a third of a tank of water and started to mould the gravel to the way I wanted it. At this point I added some water purifiers and de-chlorinator to the tank.
OK so then I put in the filter and aerator in, and also added the heater. These all remained switched off until I was finished in the tank. The rest of the water was then added - and I used a plastic tray floating on the surface to make sure there was not too much water movement which meant my sculpted gravel remained the way I wanted it.
Next all the equipment was turned on and left for two days.
The it was back down to the store for two more things:
o lots of plants and:
o CO2 diffuser to help with plant growth
The next day the plants were now neatly arranged and growing in my warm tank, so off down the shop again to get my first fish.
The first fish.
I love platies, the variety of colors is fantastic - but any live bearers are a good place to start. Mollies, swordtails, platies or guppys are ideal to get your water up to scratch. This is generally called cycling and is really the growth of good bacteria in your tank - which in turn break down the waste. So only add a few fish at first or the waste will kill the fish before the bacteria gets to work.
Five platies later and they are floating in their plastic bags on the surface of the tank. This was just to get the water temperatures equalised, and then over a period of a couple of minutes I let some of the tank water in the bag a couple of times. Finally out the five popped and made their way in the new tank.
Technically the fish waste is ammonia and needs to be broken down by bacteria into nitrite, and then later on into nitrate which is what helps the plants grow. This cycle needs to establish in your tank if you are to keep healthy and happy fish and generally this takes about 8 weeks to settle down. Even then my advice would be to add fish slowly til the are all established.
Eventually and with patience.
My wife and I eventually decided that tanganyika cichlids and malawi cichlids were our real tropical fish hobby (with some dwarf Kribs thrown in) and we managed to breed a few different types including labidochromis caeruleus or more commonly Canary cichlids, and also neolamprologus leleupi or the tanganyika yellow. At one point our tank was a huge splash of yellow delight.
In the evenings now we just switch the television off, cuddle up and watch the fish tank - and soothe our worries away.
Pete owns Tropical Fish Advice which is a resource dedicated to helping individuals interested in all types of Tropical Fish.
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